“Strictly” Gin – The Hamish Gin Experience

Local charity The Hamish Foundation has launched an innovative fundraising project to help raise funds to support St Andrews town initiatives during 2020.

“Strictly Gin” includes individuals signing-up for one of four unique gin blending experiences which includes each attendee blending their own favourite flavoured blend of the spirit during the masterclass with Tayport Distillery. The winner of each of the four heats will then be entered into a grand final, resulting in the judged winning blend being bottled to produce a limited edition run and sold from mid-November with proceeds going to the Hamish Foundation and used to support a series of St Andrews improvement projects during the next twelve months.

The Hamish team are hosting four exclusive events at which attendees will have the opportunity to create their very own gin blend in conjunction with Tayport Distillery. A run of 100 limited edition bottles of the winning gin will be produced and sold from mid-November with pre-sales for the gin also being taken at the blending masterclass events. The chosen heat winners will also have the opportunity to attend an exclusive final dinner at the Old Course Hotel to be held on 17th of October.

With tickets priced at £75 per person for the blending masterclasses which will be held locally at Ham’s Hame, “entrants” will not only be able to take a bottle of their own blend home but will also have the chance to sample everyone else's creations. They will also help select a winning gin from each session to go through to the final tasting that will create the limited edition Hamish Gin for Xmas. With one of the four sessions already sold out, the unique fundraising initiative promises to be one of the hottest tickets to obtain for September!

Debbie MacCallum (trustee of The Hamish Foundation) said: “We are immensely looking forward to these fun events and choosing our exclusive Hamish Gin which will be available in time for Xmas and we hope that it will raise significant funds for our St Andrews projects.

“We have engaged with Kecia McDougall of Tayport Distillery and the Old Course Hotel to make this idea a reality, and local student, Jemma Brown, has helped design our bottle and branding concept. We are really excited to be working with such a talented team and thank them very much for their support with the Strictly Gin project”.

Tayport Distillery is a family-owned and operated distillery producing award-winning spirits.  They have developed a premium spirit offering using local produce which includes Scotland’s first Eau de Vie, “Never.25”, and Scotland’s first cassis blackcurrant liqueur, “1992”.

Kecia McDougall said: “I am thrilled to be involved with this project. The Hamish Foundation volunteers work so hard to deliver incredible projects such as the Beach Wheelchairs and make them a reality.  The projects make a real difference to the lives of children and families all around St Andrews.”

Jemma Brown is just about to commence her Master’s year studying Product Design Engineering at Glasgow University and Glasgow School of Art. She said:

“Over the past 4 years I have been learning how to apply the engineering principles taught by the University to my design projects undertaken at the School of Art. I am fascinated by the creativity of the design process used to turn a concept into a functional real-world product. Having grown up in St Andrews, I jumped at the opportunity to become involved in this exciting new project with the McHamish Foundation. Having the chance to utilise my design skills while raising money for young people in St Andrews has been an extremely enjoyable and rewarding experience.”